Slaven Bilic felt West Ham just deserved their 1-0 victory over Bournemouth in their first Premier League match at their new London Stadium home.
Advertisement
West Ham then needed a reaction save from goalkeeper Adrian followed by a clearance from near the goal-line to preserve their first league win at the team’s new home.
A cavernous arena with a large running track separating the crowd from the pitch, the stadium doesn’t lend itself to the kind of intimate atmosphere that made Upton Park such a daunting place to visit.
The Hammers take on the Astra next in the Europa League on Thursday and Tore is expected to start.
“I’m delighted not only for the three points, but because we’ve done it against a team who like to counter attack”.
“It’s up to us”.
Carroll took to Twitter ahead of the match, claiming he will recover to play a big part this season despite another setback.
Bournemouth nearly netted a late equaliser through King, who saw a volley punched away by Adrian, but the Hammers held on to record their first Premier League win of the season.
Speaking about Carroll, Bilic bemoaned: “I will sign now the contract if his injury is four weeks or six weeks and, after that, good until the end of the season”.
“It’s a bit frustrating, though, and it’s a question mark”.
“You want your players to be as comfortable as possible”, he said.
Bilic continued: “It was hard, we knew it would be”. If we lose our discipline we could have a flurry of red cards.
Bournemouth’s Joshua King then forced West Ham stopper Adrian into action as he produced a great save to keep the contest deadlocked.
“It wasn’t a great game of football”, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic said.
The turning point came when Arter, already on a booking, was dismissed in the 77th minute for a second yellow card after hauling down Cheikhou Kouyate on the halfway line.
In stark contrast to the corresponding fixture last term – which finished 4-3 to Eddie Howe’s side – Sunday’s affair was a slow-burner, with the teams mustering just one shot on target between them in a first-half shorn of clear-cut chances. That’s the one that burns.
Advertisement
“Are we going to try to get one [new signing]?”
